This invention relates to cables and in particular to helically twisted stranded cables which are impregnated with corrosion preventive lubricant and thereafter encapsulated within a plastic sheathing.
Naval aircraft control cables, such as rudder and throttle control cables, exhibit severe deterioration caused by corrosion, wear and fretting. Corrosion comes about by exposure to humid air and saltsprays; wear progresses as the cables move over pulleys; and fretting occurs as the working control cables flex thereby inducing the individual strands of the cable to rub gainst each other. Cable deterioration not only reduces flight safety and aircraft flight performance characteristics but also requires extensive replacement of the cables after an undesirably short service life of approximately six months or less. To combat cable deterioration, a currently used cable protection method requires that control cables be subjected to a hot dipping process using a preservative compound. This method has several drawbacks, however, chief among them being that it does not maintain adequate lubrication between the individual strands of the control cables. Furthermore, the currently used cable protection method does not provide for internal and/or external abrasion resistance or adequate corrosion protection.